The present invention relates to a method for supporting a driver of a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
It is known to provide vehicles with a navigation system or a navigation device that can guide the driver from a starting point to a destination via a defined driving route. The navigation device can hereby for example be fixedly integrated in the vehicle or may be configured as a mobile or retrofittable navigation device.
It is also known to provide a function in the navigation device by means of which, based on information regarding the average fuel consumption of the vehicle and the fuel amount stored in the fuel tank, a driving range of the vehicle can first be determined or estimated. This determined driving range of the vehicle is then taken into account when determining a driving route so that when driving on the driving route at least one fuel station can still be reached with the vehicle. This reliably prevents the vehicle from becoming stranded. A function is also known in which the driver is automatically or autonomously warned by means of a warning device of the vehicle when the next fuel station on the driving route of the vehicle has to be driven to in order to prevent the vehicle from becoming stranded.
However, problems may arise when the driver does not follow the instructions of the navigation device. When the driver deviates from the predetermined driving route, it may often no longer be possible to prevent the vehicle from becoming stranded. Disregarding instructions of the navigation device is oftentimes unintended.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide a method and a device for supporting a driver of a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, by means of which the driver can be supported in a simple and flexible manner when the vehicle deviates from the predetermined driving route.